Sage 50 Payroll v32 is now available. This update includes the new legislation for the 2026/2027 tax year, and the 2025/2026 tax year legislation. This means you can install v32 right away. NOTE: Recent legislation has changed when new rates apply for most statutory parental payments. To find out more, go to the new statutory payment rates from April 2026 article. NHS pensions NHS pension band changes weren't available when we released v32. If you process an NHS pension scheme, check the NHS Pension bands section below for how to add this legislation to your software
Legislation Select any of the options below to find out about the legislation values for the 2026/2027 tax year. Unless stated otherwise, the rates are applicable from 6 April 2026. The Department for Business have created a new website covering employment changes from the Employments Rights Act. To visit this new website, go to business.Gov.UK. ▼ National minimum/living wage rates The following rates are effective from 1 April 2026. | Age | Hourly Rate | | 21 and older | £12.71 | | 18 - 20 | £10.85 | | 16 - 17 | £8.00 | | Apprenticeship* | £8.00 | * This rate applies to apprentices aged under 19, or apprentices in their first year of the apprenticeship while age 19 or above. Other apprentices are due the minimum wage for their age group as per the table above.
▼ PAYE Tax codes The emergency tax code for the 2026/2027 tax year remains at 1257L, and there are no automatic uplifts in tax codes. To find out more, visit our update your employees' tax codes article. The tables below show the bandwidths for the rest of the UK, Scotland and Wales. Rest of UK Bandwidths and Rates | From | To | Rate | Band | | £0.01 | £37,700.00 | 20.00% | Basic rate | | £37,700.01 | £125,140.00 | 40.00% | Higher rate | | £125,140.01 | excess | 45.00% | Additional rate | Scottish Bandwidths and Rates | From | To | Rate | Band | | £0.01 | £3,967.00 | 19.00% | Starter rate | | £3,967.01 | £16,956.00 | 20.00% | Basic rate | | £16,956.01 | £31,092.00 | 21.00% | Intermediate rate | | £31,092.01 | £62,430.00 | 42.00% | Higher rate | | £62,430.01 | £125,140.00 | 45.00% | Advanced rate | | £125,140.01 | excess | 48.00% | Top rate | Welsh Bandwidths and Rates | From | To | Rate | Band | | £0.01 | £37,700.00 | 20.00% | Basic rate | | £37,700.01 | £125,140.00 | 40.00% | Higher rate | | £125,140.01 | excess | 45.00% | Additional rate | Tax relief for childcare | | Basic Rate | High Rate | Higher Rate | | Weekly | £55.00 | £28.00 | £25.00 | | Monthly | £243.00 | £124.00 | £110.00 | | Annually | £2,915.00 | £1,484.00 | £1,325.00 | ▼ National Insurance (NI) Earnings bands | | Weekly | Monthly | Yearly | | Secondary Threshold (ST) | £96.00 | £417.00 | £5,000.00 | | Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) | £129.00 | £559.00 | £6,708.00 | | Primary Threshold (PT) | £242.00 | £1,048.00 | £12,570.00 | | Freeport/Investment Zone Upper Secondary Threshold (FUST) | £481.00 | £2,083.00 | £25,000.00 | | Upper Earnings Limit (UEL) | £967.00 | £4,189.00 | £50,270.00 | | Upper Secondary Threshold (UST) | £967.00 | £4,189.00 | £50,270.00 | | Apprentice Upper Secondary Threshold (AUST) | £967.00 | £4,189.00 | £50,270.00 | | Veterans Upper Secondary Threshold (VUST) | £967.00 | £4,189.00 | £50,270.00 | NI Category A Rates To see the rates for all NI categories, visit our class 1 NI rates for 2026/2027 tax year article. Employee rates: | | Employee contribution rate | Director rate | | Below LEL | 0.00% | 0.00% | | LEL to PT | 0.00% | 0.00% | | PT to UEL | 8.00% | 8.00% | | Above UEL | 2.00% | 2.00% | Employer rates: NOTE: The employer contribution rates are the same whether the earnings belong to an employee or a director. | | Employer contribution rate | | Below ST | 0.00% | | ST to LEL | 15.00% | | LEL to FUST/IZUST | 15.00% | | FUST/IZUST to UST/AUST/VIST | 15.00% | | Above UST/AUST/VUST | 15.00% | Directors Annual Primary Threshold The pro-rated Primary Threshold for the Director annual NI calculation is £12,570. Class 1A NI rates For termination payments, the Class 1A rate is 15.0% from 6 April 2026. For benefits in kind, the class 1A NI rate is also 15.0%.
▼ Statutory payments Statutory sick pay From 6 April 2026, statutory sick pay (SSP) is changing. To find out more, visit our changes to Statutory Sick Pay from 6 April 2026 article. Daily SSP rates Employees' daily SSP rates will vary due to the changes. To work out the daily rate for affected employees, follow the calculate the SSP daily payment rate from 6 April 2026 article. Alternatively, see the table beneath for daily rates based on the full weekly SSP rate of £123.25. | Unrounded daily rates | Number of working days in a week | 1 day to pay | 2 days to pay | 3 days to pay | 4 days to pay | 5 days to pay | 6 days to pay | 7 days to pay | | £17.6071 | 7 | £17.61 | £35.22 | £52.83 | £70.43 | £88.04 | £105.65 | £123.25 | | £20.5416 | 6 | £20.55 | £41.09 | £61.63 | £82.17 | £102.71 | £123.25 | | | £24.6500 | 5 | £24.65 | £49.30 | £73.95 | £98.60 | £123.25 | | | | £30.8125 | 4 | £30.82 | £61.63 | £92.44 | £123.25 | | | | | £41.0833 | 3 | £41.09 | £82.17 | £123.25 | | | | | | £61.6250 | 2 | £61.63 | £123.25 | | | | | | | £123.2500 | 1 | £123.25 | | | | | | | Parental pay The rates below come into effect from the first Sunday in April, which is 5 April 2026. If you'd like to find out more, visit our article covering when new statutory rates apply at year end. | Payment | Higher rate | The standard rate is the lesser of: | or, | Weeks at higher rate | Weeks at Standard rate | | Statutory Maternity Pay | 90.00% | £194.32 | 90.00% | 6 | 33 | | Statutory Adoption Pay | 90.00% | £194.32 | 90.00% | 6 | 33 | | Statutory Paternity Pay | N/A | £194.32 | 90.00% | N/A | 2 | | Shared Parental Pay | N/A | £194.32 | 90.00% | N/A | 37 | | Parental Bereavement | N/A | £194.32 | 90.00% | N/A | 2 | | Neonatal Care | N/A | £194.32 | 90.00% | N/A | 12 |
▼ Automatic enrolment Auto enrolment thresholds are unchanged for the 2026/2027 tax year. | Pay reference period | Lower level of qualifying earnings | Earnings trigger for automatic enrolment | Qualifying Earnings upper limit | | 1 Week | £120.00 | £192.00 | £967.00 | | Fortnight | £240.00 | £384.00 | £1,934.00 | | 4 weeks | £480.00 | £768.00 | £3,867.00 | | 1 month | £520.00 | £833.00 | £4,189.00 | | Annual | £6,240.00 | £10,000.00 | £50,270.00 | Contribution rates The minimum Employer contribution remains at 3%. The total minimum contribution remains at 8%.
▼ Student loans A new plan type, number 5, is available from 6 April 2026. When you set up a student loan deduction for an employee, you must specify whether they're on Plan 1, 2, 4 or 5. The deduction rate percentages are unchanged, but the thresholds they apply from have changed for the 2026/2027 tax year. | Type | Weekly | Monthly | Annual | Rate | | Plan Type 1 | £517.30 | £2,241.66 | £26,900.00 | 9.00% | | Plan Type 2 | £565.09 | £2,448.75 | £29,385.00 | 9.00% | | Plan Type 4 | £649.90 | £2,816.25 | £33,795.00 | 9.00% | | Plan Type 5 | £480.76 | £2,083.33 | £25,000.00 | 9.00% |
▼ Postgraduate loans There's no change to postgraduate loans for the 2026/2027 tax year. | Weekly | Monthly | Annual | Rate | | £403.84 | £1,750.00 | £21,000.00 | 6.00% |
▼ Employment allowance For the 2026/2027 tax year, the employment allowance remains at £10,500. Employment allowance no longer counts as 'de minimis state aid'. This means HMRC don't require the information from the state aid options within the Employer Allowance application submission. As they’re obsolete, we've removed these options from v32 onwards.
▼ Small Employers' Relief (SER) The SER compensation rate is increasing from 8.5% to 9%. This means eligible employers will be able to reclaim 109% of statutory parental payments in the 2026/2027 tax year. To find out how SER works, visit our Small Employers' Relief article.
▼ Apprenticeship levy The Apprenticeship Levy allowance is £15,000. The Apprenticeship Levy rate is 0.5%.
▼ Attachment of earnings orders (AEOs) Where attachments of earnings orders use rates to calculate deductions, your software includes these rates and applies them automatically. There are no changes to the existing AEO rates. To view AEO rates, log into Sage 50 Payroll and go to Company then Legislation. Go to the AEO Rates tab, and use the Attachment Type dropdown to select which one to view.
▼ NHS Pensions bands The table below confirms NHS Pension legislation changes effective from 1 April 2026: | Tier | Applicable from | Applicable to | Employee contribution rate | | 1 | £0.01 | £13,259.99 | 5.2% | | 2 | £13,260.00 | £28,854.99 | 6.5% | | 3 | £28,855.00 | £35,155.99 | 8.3% | | 4 | £35,156.00 | £52,778.99 | 9.8% | | 5 | £52,779.00 | £67,668.99 | 10.7% | | 6 | £67,669.00 | Excess | 12.5% | Employer contribution rates for 1 April 2026 onwards remain the same as 31 March 2026 and prior. The rates are 14.38% for NHS Employers, and 14.84% for medical schools. Sage 50 Payroll applies these employer rates automatically. For help with entering the new legislation to v32, visit the how to enter new NHS Pension legislation article. If you don't already use the NHS Pensions Module and would like to find out more, visit Sage.com.
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